r/namethatbook

Here's what I remember, not sure it's all accurate:

Young kid (probably a boy just coz most of the protagonists were boys, natch) who was bored and on like summer break and essentially without real supervision ends up pestering a kind of grumpy neighbor, who sets him the task of staking out a six-by-six foot patch of lawn and just sitting there and making observations about it every day.

At first he hates it and thinks its dumb and is terribly bored, but he comes to be fascinated with it — realizes it's teeming with variety and full of microdramas and essentially learns science and mindfulness without it being preachy or overbearing.

No leads on title or author, just vague sense of karate-kid style "i hate this task it's boring and pointless until until suddenly it's not" style breakthrough.

Help!

1 The Accusation

"He raped me! He got me pregnant!" The Omega broke down sobbing on the courtroom floor, her cries tearing through the gallery.

The internet exploded. Every comment section screamed the same thing. Kill that animal! Put the Alpha down!

I stood up and slipped off my suit jacket. "I'm a woman. So tell me, how exactly did I get you pregnant?"

So, I recall so much of this book except for the characters’ names and the title. It has been driving me nuts trying to Google search for this thing, so I’ve come to Reddit for help. This is literally my very first post because I’m just trying to find this book. I read it in the last five years or so, but don’t emember it’s original published date

The book involves an MMC who is either a prince or a lord. I can’t really recall his exact status, but it is set in a time period with titles and estates and things like that. He very much lives on an estate. I don’t know that I’d call it a castle, because that led to no good keyword searches, but the main thing is that he is some sort of titled character.

The premise is that he went off to war, nearly died, and basically came back as a vampire, though I don’t think the book necessarily states “vampire” as much as he’s a strange other creature who needs blood to survive. He basically becomes a recluse, but he has a whole bunch of people who live on his estate and work for him.

The war itself was between the citizens of this country and some magical-ish people to the north. I can’t exactly remember what they were called, but at one point the MMC takes the FMC to meet them in hopes they can get answers about the FMC

The FMC has essentially been put into an arranged marriage by her father to the MMC. I think she has three brothers, and she has been treated terribly by her family pretty much her whole life. She is sent in a carriage to the MMC’s estate, but then the carriage is attacked. All of the people taking her in the carriage get killed by something on the road. Later, werewolves of a sort come and attack, and she barely survives inside the carriage.

Her brothers eventually come, I think to rescue her, but one of her brothers gets injured. So she literally takes a horse to go find help. She is coming down the road and nearly runs into the MMC, who has seen the commotion or something and has come outside of his estate to investigate. She sees him covered up, because I think he can’t be seen in the sun or something like that. Essentially, he has some sort of cloth over his face. She runs to him and asks for his help, and there is some thing that happens between them that surprises him, but he is also entranced by her and her blood.

Anyway, he does eventually help and brings her to the estate. Then they slowly get close over time.

Eventually, he discovers that his father, who is essentially kind of the ruler of the country, has basically set up this marriage. He doesn’t know why. Then they come to find out that the FMC is from some sort of interesting lineage. It turns out that her mother, I think, was some sort of wood nymph.

Later in the story, sorry for spoilers, but I’m asking because I need help finding it, the MMC goes to free her mother, who has been captured by distant relatives of his for a very, very long time. She came from a much farther-off place, met the FMC’s father, and of course they fell in love. But he didn’t realize what she was, and then basically outed her, so she got captured.

At one point in the story, the FMC talks to a tree and swallows a seed or something like that. I know that sounds super random, but I’m just trying to put everything out there that I can remember from this book.

I read it so long ago and can’t remember the title. I had it as an ebook but I had to shut down my Amazon account a while ago, so I can’t find my purchase history, unfortunately. I’ve tried all those avenues, and now I’m just blankly searching the internet.

Please help!

I think it was an older book, pre2000

Main Character was a little tug boat.

He talked about other tug boats, and his daddy tugboat, and he was a goober that goofed off. One day he decides to get serious and ends up in the ocean after a storm? A big boat got stuck and either no tug boat could reach or could do it? But he tries and because he's so small he can ..hop the waves? And he saves the day.

I’m looking for a book I read in the early to mid 1990s. It was YA or late middle grade, time slip historical romance/mystery. The cover was a girl in a garden in regency dress with her hair up…..and maybe a hand by a big concrete or stone urn/planter?

Plot points, girl travels back in time after meeting a ghost in the garden…I think she maybe finds herself in her ancestor’s body? The ancestor’s mother is dead. The ghost she meets is the daughter of a neighbor who was killed or imprisoned or something. They are close in age and become friends….and because it’s regency-ish era her new friend falls in love with the ancestor’s widowed father, so things get awkward. Both girls (ancestor and friend) were mid to late teens.

The tone was light mystery and light romance. No dark or broody, not spicy. 

Set at a large estate house/grounds (Pemberly-esque), either in English or French countryside. It could be that the ghost was displaced from France to England, but I am not confident about that detail.

There’s a central mystery - that I do not remember clearly - but solving the mystery is why the girl is sent back in time? I vaguely remember it being about her mother or mother’s death, and finding/reading a diary or letter helps resolve the mystery.

The friend’s name is Angelique, Angelica….something French sounding - but it’s definitely not the mid-century Angelique novels.

I vaguely remember a scene where the family friend and the father gave been out at a party, or maybe in the rain…the friend is very excited that the father and she have discovered that they’re in love. She is incandescently happy and excitedly telling the FMC/ancestor about it…. And it’s really awkward for the FMC b/c it’s her friend and her dad…

I know it is NOT :

The Ghost in the Garden

The Angelique novel series

The Ghost Beyond the Garden, Lynn Blankman 

The Doll in the Garden

I cannot remember the name of this book and it’s bothering me so much lol.

Here’s a few key things I remember:
- He finds out his parents are getting divorced.
- He tells a girl at school who likes to gossip so it will spread around the school. For sympathy, I think.
- His mom mainly only cooked Mac and cheese, I think. If I remember right, he is eating Mac and cheese on the cover of the book.
- He runs away from home in one scene and hides in a tree in the park and his mom follows him.

If anyone can tell me what this book is, I’d appreciate it SO much!

I read this in the early 2000s and I think it was published in the 80s. Only some details of this book stick out to me.
It involves a young girl who sister recently passed away. She takes some of her ashes and buries them in the front yard. She keeps talking about Willow Street and wanting to go back there. Her best friend (who I think is named Chloe but I could be really wrong) is starting to become too cool for her and more obsessed with her boyfriend. Her grandmother has a small dog named Porky. There is a scene in which the best friend calls the grandmother racist. On the cover it shows the protagonist confused looking at the best friend who is in kind of a dream like state.